Ravi Teja's 'Nela Ticket' Movie Review

Nela Ticket Story: A carefree young man is forced to alter his life due to a shocking event that takes place in his life. Suddenly, he becomes a messiah for the old and the downtrodden and fights against an evil, corrupt politician to get justice for the society

Nela Ticket Review: Mindless action scenes, love at first sight (quite literally), a dozen comedians who fail to evoke laughter, an evil politician and an aloof, goofy young man who suddenly turns into a saviour. Sounds familiar? Ravi Teja’s latest venture Nela Ticket is as predictable as they come. Loud and boorish, this Kalyan Krishna directorial lacks imagination and creativity. 

The film begins with the swearing-in of the new Home Minister (Jagapathi Babu) who not only conspires to assassinate his father, also a politician, but also indulges in corrupt activities and creates fear among the people. In comes Ravi Teja, an orphan who loves having people around him. He goes out of his way to help others and ensure people look after their parents. When a news reporter finds out that the Home Minister conspired to kill his own father, she's attacked by his goons and has a target on her back. The ruthless nature of the corrupt politician inevitably affects the life of the protagonist as Ravi Teja turns from an aimless youth into a saviour for the whole community. 

If the first half was mindless and predictable, the amount of melodrama pumped into the second half would make you cringe. There's a needless dose of heavy sentiment forcibly infused into the script, and it fails to make an impact. All the while, you wait for the story to get a move on, and wonder what on earth is going on. 

Most commercial films with a similarly predictable storylines usually have the protagonist and the bad guy pitted against each other in a game of cat-and-mouse. Nela Ticket, however, takes a turn for the worse. One minute, the two of them are threatening each other, and the next minute there's a romantic song - or worse, another sentimental scene. It feels like the director was trying to make four films at once and then decided to mix it all up into one incoherent script. 

The humour, in particular, is tasteless and cringeworthy. The sequences involving Prudhvi Raj and his 'friend with benefits', are terribly misogynistic and fail to evoke any laughter. To have actors like Brahmanandam, Prudhvi Raj, Posani Murali Krishna, Ali, Priyadarshi and Brahmaji and yet not have a single funny scene is indicative of the poor writing on offer. 

Ravi Teja may be the Mass Maharaja but neither the masses or any other audience would appreciate a stale, outdated and poorly told story. The actor does what he's known for but is let down by a weak script. Malvika Sharma doesn't have much to do in her debut film and the love story is as farcical as the rest of this film. Jagapathi Babu as the stereotypical baddie just about hits the mark, though it seems he has the same expression throughout.

Review : 2.5/5